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DeaneTR t1_iya67n9 wrote

I learned in Grad School that having something valuable to say about a book you didn't read is essential. The easiest way to do that is to read the index, the table of contents and some random pages to find out what you can contribute to a discussion about the book if it ever comes up. If you applied that to your dad's book, you'd have all your bases covered. As in he probably doesn't have an issue if you didn't read it entirely, but would be hurt if you didn't even look at it.

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chortlingabacus t1_iyab0g1 wrote

How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read, Pierre Bayard.

Having said that, you're probably not going to able to say anything 'valuable' about a particular book if you've not read it--though whether the assigned book merits valuable remarks or even close attention is another matter.

hellosugar7 is right, full stop. And not only is not attempting to at least attentively browse the book in some way dismissive of his/her father but OP would be missing a chance to learn something even when the person who could answer questions about it sitting there in the next room chloroforming & pinning helpless creatures to a board or watching videos of Gunsmoke episodes.

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Little_Noodles t1_iya7lgk wrote

Alll this, but also, see if you can find a review of the book in an academic journal (JSTOR has really opened up access to stuff since the pandemic).

Dropping something like “x person said something nice about your book in this journal” would probably make his year.

This would also be a good way of taking an interest in the work and what he does that doesn’t involve reading a list of stuff about bugs.

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DeaneTR t1_iya8bcb wrote

Or even better research all the bug experts who named bugs they discovered after family members and say how come all these people got bugs named after 'em but all I got was a book dedication? :-)

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